Visions of the Sarrukh

The warrior turned out to be out of his time (some 15 centuries). The last thing he remembered was the battle with demons. The party was joined by Ceir Orbeth, who was lead there by Milutin. Grave robbing ensued, with some minor encounter with ghosts. One was captured by the cleric. After gathering their loot near the entrance, an extensively detailed search followed. A secret door was found behind one of the coffins. Down the stairway it led them to a hallowed ground and a large stone door. With some magical help, the party entered into a chamber with a strange circle split in two in the middle. The two armours in the corner presented themselves as the guardians of the place, protecting it from demons. The party was not impressed, since they fought demons fairly recently and tried negotiating with these strange automatons. Of course, a battle was joined during the discussion. The amours were defeated, but two Gerthel almost died, and Momaru lost an arm.

The party gathered in the evening at the inn for a nice meal. But the maid brought a message for them. The contents invited them to an address. Quickly they journeyed there, picking up Riffin at the castle. It was a deserted warehouse. But after some search, a door to the cellar was found. After some time in a tunnel they stumbled upon a skeleton, with some strange growth in his chest. After a more careful look, it was reptile skeleton. It asked for their helped and promised his services in return. Most of the fellowship could not be easily won over without real rewards, but Llialda gladly agreed. The curse that befell him was of natural origin, and she performed a ritual to remove it (Eleasar’s dispel attempts failed). She also revealed (and the creature agreed) that it was masked (via magical cloak) as a small fox she found outside of Hromor. The curse was most likely connected to a mysterious seed fed to him by Llialda. They also found out that he was from that strange sphere, and a Sarrukh in life. As they ventured forth through the next tunnel, sounds of battle were heard. A strange large man was trying to fight off demons. With the help of the party, demons soon met their end. Skeleton vanished and they turned their curiosity to the warrior.

After having some rest at the inn, Milutin (accompanied by everyone except Eleasar) went to his shady meeting at almost midnight. On their way, they visited the crime scene of a particulary gruesome murder Riffin mentioned during his visit. Bloody hoof trails they found. The rogue completed his exchange without any problems (Ceir even convinced some of them to visit his temple). Lialda decided to check the scene once more. Valithria stayed with her, while Ceir was praying nearby. The rest of the party spotted a strange bipedal creature with a tail going behind the corner. Once, twice, and the third time they stumbled into complete darkness. After a short, but bloody skirmish, they started retreating. Gerthel fell, but reinforcements arrived, Valithria holding off the mysterious creature, while giant spider shaped Lialda dragged Gerthel out. Her form allowed her to gaze into darkness and she saw something out of this world. The went back to the inn, Ilidža reported the incident to the castle, Ceir healed them upon his arrival. In the morning, they identified the creature as a demon. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful: Lialda spent her day strolling the city and acquiring some history books from the castle. Ilidža journeyed through the darker taverns of the city looking for some herbs. Milutin assisted him and also made a detailed investigation of the city’s alcohol distribution and started plotting to introduce himself to the market. He also rented an old warehouse. Gerthel learned finding her way in the inn’s kitchen and made some fine soup. Even got paid! Ceir Orbeth was very diligent in increasing his flock. He entered the abandoned temple, made some notes about re-decorating the place. Some vandals even broke the nice vitrage windows while he was there. He started the negotiations about taking the temple for his faith, since it was already abandoned and spent the entire afternoon by knocking on people’s doors and inviting them to a fundraiser tomorrow evening at the temple (he payed special attention to the rich part of the city).

The party hurried back to the inn, where they proceeded (except Ceir Orbeth, who rode away on his black horse) with making a forgery of lord Adrik’s last will. Lialda was outraged with their actions and stormed away, Leila at her side. Confident in their skills, they went straight back to the castle. Guards informed them that there will no visitors today, but Eleasar used his Hat of Disguise to appear as Riffin (lords adviser). But alas, the throne room was closed, and apparently barred, since there was no keyhole. Precautionary, Eleasar sent the four guards in the hallway for a break at their favourite tavern. Ilidža scouted the outside of the castle and found a window, where he tied a rope. Milutin climbed the rope and wiggled his way in through the bars. After a few rooms (one was a cozy lounge, the second a reading room, the third a storage with wooden crates) he encountered guards. His attempt at sneaking by them to the next room failed, he was taken captive and escorted to the prison via slightly stragne mechanism that lead them to underground. The jailor dismissed the document claiming Miutin is the new lord, effective before the end of the first day. Meanwhile, the rest of the party tried breaking the door, and after they ignited it (and called guards for help, claiming that the lord was in danger). The room was empty. A metal door leading further into the castle was once again locked. A letter was found in the table. It contained nothing of particular interest, except it referenced lord Adrik as brother, and signed by queen Salvynia Whitefang. In the middle of a joined effort by the party and the guards, Riffin opened the door from the other side. Eleasar promptly used a wand of Hold Person on him and ordered the guards to bind the impostor. The room from which he emerged looked like a cabinet, with a loot of books, scrolls and two tables. A stone door with decorated with an open hand from which beams of light originated was locked. Everyone present, on false Riffins command started heading for the prison. Just before the exit, the tall emissary appeared. After inquiring in the entire event he joined them (after dismissing the guards) on their way to the prison. After releasing Milutin, they all returned to the throne room in the castle. Enlil (the emissary) informed them that lord is still alive, but in a bad condition and that the queen will be sending her personal investigators to assess the situation, and let them go to continue their quest Adrik required of them. It was still early in the afternoon: Ilidža scouted the city, finding a closed temple (“No priest of Rohen ever came to the temple.” a passer-by claimed) and also checked out the market; Milutin found a healer, but dismissed him since he wielded no magic, and explored the shadier taverns and set up a meeting in an alley when the night falls; Gerthel stayed in bed resting and eating. In the late afternoon Rifin arrived to the inn. Eleasar (joined by Gerthel, and later Ilidža and Milutin) told tales of their adventures. Riffin (who turned to be an archeologist who also practiced abjurations) was a bit skeptical, especially about the part with other planes, and gave them some local info (the town Bastou was Adrik’s new fiefdom (all of the people arriving less than six months ago; almost all from the Arakzil, from which the lord, as well as his sister, hailed; the city also had catacombs and was built during a war with demons more than a millennium ago ). They learned about the Empire where the Nephs (such as emissary Enlil) ruled and slavery was allowed. He also informed them of a particularly gruesome murder which happened during the night in the streets. Founding of a mages guild was discussed together with negotiations about acquiring citizenship and property in the city. Some members of the party were particularly interested in some of the less legal activities in the city. As the lords adviser was leaving, the party continued plotting.

Old man and the forest

While Milutin, Eleasar, Lialda, Valithria and Ilidža were resting after their fight with the angered bear, Gerthel, while following some hunters to the forest met up with Ceir Orbeth. They tracked the rest of the party by following the opposite direction of the fleeing horses. The party made camp at the same spot, made food and cut some trees. Soon enough a treant appeared, and after a short talk, a battle ensued. The treant fell, and it’s corpse was burned. After a long rest, the party started following bear tracks in the pursuit of Misha (Valithria’s pet). That also made them closer to another of woodcutter sites. Misha was found atop a hidden cache which promptly opened when touched by Valithria. As was expected, since it contained her possessions (armour, weapons and a tent). The party pressed on, and soon encountered a group of people listening an old man teaching them the ways of nature and balance. There were some disagreements between the life philosophies of some (most) party members and the old man (called Sedrik), and it was discovered that he did knew something about creatures of the forest harming the woodcutters, but claimed no direct connection to them and the rest of the group appeared to be activists from the nearby city. Although Ilidža picked the entire apple tree, and Milutin ate the bears meat in front of them, Eleasar’s diplomatic effort saved the day and he managed to persuade Sedrik to come to Bastou, and personally negotiate the limits of nature exploitation by humans of the said city. The journey back was uneventful, and soon after they entered the walls, most of the group went home (since it was a few hours after dusk). The old man was abhorred by the way people lived in the city, but was strangely fascinated by monument in front of the castle. Lord Adrik was skeptical at first (old people manipulating trees to attack woodcutters did sound a bit strange to him after all), but a short talk to Sedrik convinced him that the city should stop it’s aggression. The party was surprised, but did not interfere. After parting ways with the old man, they went to the inn, hoping for a rest after a very long day. An earthquake took them by surprise before they put their nightgowns on. They soon found out that monument was destroyed. Some buildings were damaged, but nobody was seriously harmed. They returned to the inn, wondering about Sedrik’s (suspected) motive for doing such a thing after a successful negotiation. First thing in the morning on Ceir Orbeth’s initiativethey questioned Sielik (leader of the activists), and after threating him, went to the castle. Once again, they met the strange large person leaving as they were entering the throne room. Harsh words were exchanged (regarding taxation) and battle was joined. Lord’s adviser promptly disappeared. After a bloody fight, while the party was combating the now enraged guards (lord was on the floor and bleeding), the large person in black returned and advised the party to leave. Eleasar did not heed his advice and was almost brought down with what he described as a slice to his brain. The priest managed to haggle some wands that the adviser used. They left the castle wondering who is that guy (emissary from the Empire meant little to them), will they received their just reward for protecting the lives of woodcutters and who will rule the city now?

Lord Adrik of Bastou promised 20 000 dukats for stopping the attacks on the woodcutters for at least two weeks. After receiving an official letter from the lord, they started investigating the suspicious activist who were protesting against the wanton destruction of wildlife. Night time investigation team (which consisted of Eleasar, Milutin disguised as a little girl, Llialda and Leila) tricked a protester in to a dark alley and questioned him there. That was fruitless, as he knew nothing. A strange elf called Valithria was found in a prison cell next to the leader of the green movement (who was questioned in detail and with aid of a zone of truth spell, also no to avail). Their next move was to impersonate the lumberjacks and wait for the attackers. Soon they arrived at the edge of the forest, where the tied the horses borrowed from the lords stables. Not a few more hours into the woods, a bear crossed their path. Magic and diplomacy did not helped them sway the bear but agitated him into attacking them. After a gruesome fight, bear’s lifeless carcass was being skinned by Milutin as the party made camp there.